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Kirconen Averin
:"Any trace, Four?" :"I'm picking up something...something big. Wait, there's...of someone trying not to be sick" :"Four, are you all right?" :"Fine, Two. But I found Mac, or what's left of him...and trust me, those aren't Ewoks everybody's so anxious to lay eyes on--" :"Four, what happened? Four? Come in...CERA!" ::—Two settlers, shortly after landing on Kircone. The '''Averin' was an armored creature native to the planet Kircone in the Deep Core. It had two subspecies, one inhabiting the southern continent and the other native to the easternmost portion of the largest continent. General Characteristics Averins were dragonlike creatures with thick biometallic armor plates covering their bodies. This armor made up quite a bit of the creatures' mass; inside, however, their bodies were extremely muscular. The armor was a pale grey in color. An averin's body, excluding the neck and tail, made up roughly a quarter of the creature's total length; the neck and head made up another quarter, while the tail composed the rest of the length. They had eight legs, arranged with a fairly short pair in the front; two powerful pair in the central portion of the body, designed for running; and finally, a single pair of extremely long legs that strongly resembled a grasshopper's rear legs. This final pair enabled the averin to jump powerfully despite its mass. The southern subspecies could run up to one hundred twenty kilometers per hour. At the end of the tail was a leaf-shaped branching that allowed the averin to grasp branches and trees. The tail also could be used as a weapon, swinging around in the case of the southern subspecies with a force roughly equal to that of a concussion missile's detonation. The head was roughly half a meter long in the case of the eastern averin, just over twice that in the southern. It was relatively flat but oriented vertically and not horizontally; the mouth, extending all the way back to where the head joined the neck, likewise opened sideways. It could open to almost 180 degrees and was lined with multiple rows of curved needle-like teeth that pointed back towards the throat. This mouth was the only feature on the averin's head; in reality it was not so much a head as a simple trap mechanism to open and close access to the creature's throat. Averins did not have an organized brain. Instead, they had a relatively primitive spinal column that extended throughout the length of the body, even to the point of branching into the legs, tail, and neck. Senses Averins had few of the standard senses found in most predators. They were blind, mostly deaf, with no sense of smell or taste; however, they did have rows of tiny sensors lining the edges of their armor plates that gave them a panoramic "view" of their surroundings in low wavelengths of radiation, from microwave to infrared. In addition, they could sense the electrical impulses given off by other life forms. The final major sense used by averins was a form of radar based on a wavelength of radiation in the long infrared range. Habitat Averins inhabited two continents of Kircone, always inhabiting regions where the primary tree in the forest was the Tselon tree. As a general rule, they also remained with a hundred or so kilometers of the coastline, though the eastern averin often got farther inland than the southern averin and could remain along rivers as well. They were equally at home in the water, on land, and in the lower branches of the Tselon tree; however, they could not travel well through sections of forest with few Tselon trees as no other tree was strong enough to withstand the mass of an averin swinging through the lower branches by its tail. They required water to breed, as the young lived in shallow water after birth. Food Young averins fed on the fishlike life that filled Kircone's oceans and rivers. It was not uncommon for them to attempt to attack each other as well, but their teeth and jaws were not capable of penetrating a fellow averin's armor. After moving up to land as adult averins, they still entered the water to catch fish but also lived off of the land-based game animals of Kircone, particularly nol'yens. Uses *The eastern subspecies, though more aggressive than the southern, was also much more intelligent and could with some effort--and a lot of danger--be domesticated. They were used as mounts by the Tilani when in battle. *Due to their aggressiveness and sheer fighting capability, they could be used as gladiator monsters, and their decentralized nervous system made them even more effective in this capacity as an averin could continue fighting even after having its head lopped completely off. It would not be as well-balanced, but it would remain alive and would actually go completely berserk if badly wounded. *When hunted and killed safely, the flesh of the averin, particularly the eastern averin, was considered to be a delicacy. Category:Plants and Animals